Dust by Dawn
by jayfeather12345
Summary: The Vampires are becoming stronger by the night, especially with Paul, Drew, Gary, Ash and N being so powerful. It will take equally powerful Slayers to stop their reign of blood and terror but are Dawn, May, Leaf, Misty and White up to the task? Especially when their heads are telling them one thing and their hearts another. Falling for a Vampire was never so dangerous.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own pokemon.

I thought I'd try something new, so here is a pokemon/vampire fanfic.

Warning: It's rated T for blood/violence, so if you don't like then don't read.

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**Prologue**

The time was ten past eight in the evening. A half-moon hung low in the sky and a few stars twinkled overhead as five teenaged boys walked down the streets of some small, insignificant City in Kalos. They looked like five regular teenagers out to cause trouble, but should their conversation have been overheard a passer-by would wonder if they were drunk.

"That was a good haul last night," commented one boy with emerald hair and eyes to match. "Seven new recruits – a record made."

"It should have been twelve," said another boy shortly. His plum coloured hair was longish and framed his handsome face. Black eyes glared at the boy with emerald hair. Each boy was incredibly – perhaps unfairly – handsome in appearance and each had unnaturally pale, stark white skin.

"Hey, it's not our fault we were thirsty," put in a boy with brown hair so spiky it looked dangerous.

"Ash, N and I can all control our bloodlust," the plum-haired boy snapped. "You-"

"Quiet," the emerald-haired boy hissed sharply. Every boy halted instantly. "I smell blood. _Fresh _blood."

A boy with coal black hair sighed. "Here we go again," he muttered. "Drew, can't you-" he began but the boy with spiky brown hair snapped his fingers in front of Ash's face.

"Shh. It's coming from the alley down there," he said in a low voice. "Drew, let's split up. By the smell of them there are two Mortals hiding there. One each, let's go." Both the brown and emerald haired boys sped off towards the afore-mentioned alley with such speed as was not natural. They were gone in the blink of an eye.

The three boys left behind exchanged glances. "If they can't control themselves, we'll run out of Mortals to recruit," Ash sighed.

"Why does it matter to you?" the other boy with long green hair tied back in a ponytail asked Ash. "You never bite Mortals anyway."

Ash shrugged. "Mars and Saturn won't be pleased with them."

Before N could reply, a shrill buzzing sound coming from Paul's watch alerted then to a call coming in from one of their bosses. Paul answered it by tapping the screen and they all listened as Paul received his orders from Mars, their female commander. As soon as the call ended Paul, Ash and N sped towards the alleyway where Drew and Gary were finishing off their meal of two young Mortals. Both boys were bent over their prey on the ground, not even stirring when the other three arrived.

"Drew. Gary. Mars wants us back at base, now," Paul ordered.

Gary raised his head briefly. His eyes were bright red and warm blood dripped from his fangs, staining the ground red. "What does she want this time?" he growled before resuming his meal.

Paul kept his eyes on Gary, not letting himself look at either victim. He was using all his self-control not to join them in draining the Mortals dry. "Too many Newly-Turned Vampires are being dusted by the Slayers who recently moved into town," he answered in an emotionless voice. "Mars wants us to do something about it."

Instantly he had captured both Gary and Drew's attention. "You mean we get to bite Slayers?" Drew checked. His voice was thick and his eyes as red as Gary's but they shone eagerly through the darkness.

Paul nodded. "No. The five females arrived at the beginning of September and have been staking nearly more Newly-Turned than we can bite, however recently they stopped slaying them. Mars thinks they have a plan and she wants us to find out what. _Then _we can bite them," he explained.

All five vampires exchanged glances. "Bring it on," Gary snarled eagerly. "It's been too long since I tasted Slayer blood."

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**Author's Note: **Please tell me what you think of the idea so far. It's one of those things you either love or hate I guess, so feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


	2. The Slayers

**Disclaimer: **I don't own pokemon :(

Wow, I didn't think this chapter would be us so soon! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed :D

In reply to _Ready to fly_: Thanks for your review and support! Hopefully you'll like this chapter :)

Oh, and a quick note: this chapter's purpose is mostly to give background information, so not much action happens but it's a key chapter to understanding the rest of the story, so yeah.

Enjoy.

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**Chapter One**

**~ The Slayers ~**

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I stared at the clock, willing the hands to move faster. I was sure they hadn't moved at all in the last five minutes. Sighing, I reached down to rummage in my bag, which was resting against the table leg. Breakfast had been four hours ago; I was starving. We only had half an hour left of school to go but the time was dragging by, so I decided to risk sneaking a snack out of my bag and hoped the teacher wouldn't notice.

"Miss Maple, just what do you think you're doing?"

I flinched, looking up to find the stern gaze of our Maths teacher, Ms Matthews, resting on me. I glanced down guiltily at the biscuit in my hand. "Erm," I said intelligently. _Come on May, think of something,_ I urged myself. "It's for a science project?" I tried. Next to me Leaf, one of my best friends, face-palmed. What? I thought it was a good excuse!

Ms Matthews didn't look amused, and I had to stifle a giggle at the expression on her old, wrinkled face. "Put that away this instant, answer the next question correctly, and I won't keep you in detention after school has ended," she told me.

"What?" I gaped. "But it's the end of term! You can't keep me here after twelve because then it's the holidays," I protested.

Ms Matthews glared at me. "I can keep you here for as long as I wish to," she informed me coldly. I glanced at Leaf, who was shaking her head at me. I winced. Leaf, Misty, Dawn, White and I all had to leave school as soon as the clock struck twelve because we had an important meeting to attend. If I was late, Grace, our superior and the founder of KAS (the Kalos Association of Slayers) would not be pleased. Yes, that's right, we're Slayers. Vampire Slayers, to be exact. And that's Slayers with a capital 'S' (I learned that after Leaf took a whole hour lecturing me on it). So I couldn't afford to stay behind after school finished for the Christmas holidays.

I quickly dropped the biscuit back into my bag and turned my attention Ms Matthews, waiting for the question.

"Simplify 4a times 3b," Ms Matthews said. I blinked. _What, now?_ Next to me Leaf was gesturing subtly and I chanced a glance at her out of the corner of my eye, but her gestures were too confusing for me to decipher. "Well?" Ms Matthews prompted.

"Umm…" I hesitated. Maths and I never had gotten along...

Just then there was a commotion on the other side of the classroom. Two of the boys were fighting over some sort of gadget and Ms Matthews instantly strode over to their desk, breaking it up. While her attention was elsewhere, another boy got up from his seat two rows in front of me and darted over to me. He had a white knit cap covering his hair so it looked like he had white hair, but I was one of the few people to know his hair was actually black. His greenish-brown eyes twinkled softly at me as he approached my desk.

"12ab," he whispered to me.

I was surprised, but I had no time to reply when he returned to his seat as quickly as he had left it and nodded to the two fighting boys on the other side of the room. The instantly shut up and looked at Ms Matthews innocently.

"What on earth just happened?" I whispered in Leaf's ear.

Leaf looked just as surprised as I felt, but she recovered quickly. "Looks like someone's got an admirer," she winked.

I shook my head. "Brendan's just a friend," I began but Ms Matthews, once more in charge of the class, reclaimed my attention.

"Miss Maple, do you have an answer for me?"

I froze. What was it Brendan had said to me again? "Oh, uh, 12ab?" I ventured, hoping I remembered correctly.

Ms Matthews nodded abruptly. "Correct."

Phew, that was close! I sighed in relief, looking over at Brendan. His back was facing me but I smiled slightly. I had to remember to thank him later. If it wasn't for him, I would have had to serve detention after school. After that I let my attention wander until the bell rang (finally!) and I leaped up from my seat, a huge grin of my face.

"Free for two and half weeks!" I celebrated. Leaf dug her elbow into my side as Ms Matthews walked past us, heading for the door. She shot me a look through narrowed eyes and I gulped. "Heh… oops?"

Leaf rolled her eyes as she gathered her things. "Leave it to you May," she sighed in amused exasperation. "Come on, let's find Dawn, Misty and White and head back to base."

I grabbed my bag, checked my bandanna was still fixed in position on my head, and was about to join the pupils streaming out of the classroom when I remembered Brendan. "Wait – where's Brendan? I need to thank him for earlier," I paused, scanning the room, but I couldn't see him anywhere.

Leaf also looked around. "Maybe he already left?" she suggested. "Don't worry, you're bound to run into him sooner or later. We're all staying here over Christmas and this is a small enough town after all," she pointed out wisely.

"Yeah, you're right," I nodded reluctantly. "Let's get back to base and find out what sort of mission Grace has for us this time."

* * *

"You took your time," Grace's disapproving voice sounded the moment Misty pushed open the door to the briefing room.

"We're sorry, May thought she saw a Vam-" Misty began to apologise and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, that's right, blame it all on me (honestly, her eyes had looked red in the bad lighting!). "-Pire…" Misty finished her sentence slowly. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"What? Who's there?" I asked, bobbing up on my tiptoes, trying to see over White's head. We were still in the corridor since Misty had stopped in the doorway.

"Girls, please, come in and sit down," Grace invited us. Misty finally walked forwards and took her seat at the long, five-a-side rectangular briefing table. I first noticed Grace – she was sitting at the head of the table opposite the door. There was nothing unusual there. Standing to the left of the middle-aged woman was her eighteen-year-old daughter, Serena, who was also our Organiser (each separate team of slayers had one Organiser who they reported to for missions and suchlike, and the Organiser would then be responsible for reporting to the Head and getting their orders from them). I frowned. As a Slayer I was trained to pick up on even the slightest details (I know I'm often absentminded, but I can be observant when I want to be), so I knew something was up when I saw that Serena's honeyed locks had been brushed and styled. Don't get me wrong, she looked really pretty, especially with her soft blue eyes, but Serena never brushed her hair. Like, ever. She was renowned throughout KAS for going around with the worst hair imaginable (although even then she still looked pretty – she was one of those people who could have a bad hair day and still look amazing) no matter how many times Grace told her off for it. So why had she made such an effort to be presentable today?

Transferring my gaze to the person standing at Grace's right, I found the reason. Calem, the handsome, black-haired, brown-eyed, nineteen-year-old Organiser for TWAS was observing us calmly as we filed into the room and took our seats on the left side of the table (with me at the end closest to the steel door). Serena was infatuated with the guy, and it wasn't hard to see why – if he wasn't a TWAS agent I'd probably be head over heels for him myself. But TWAS (The Worldwide Association of Slayers) were our worst enemies – apart from Vampires, that is. They were the largest slayer organisation and had bases throughout all of the other regions. Except Kalos. It was a well-known fact that they wanted to take over Kalos as well, so it didn't bode well that Calem was here now. Grace did say she had some news for us, but I hoped it wasn't that she had finally given in and was handing the reigns over to TWAS.

Once we were all settled, Grace began to speak again. It didn't escape my notice that Serena kept casting Calem 'subtle' glances throughout the whole thing. "I'm sure you recognise Calem, one of the TWAS Organisers. He has come here today with his team because TWAS and KAS want to try something different. As much as TWAS want to take over Kalos and run the whole operation, KAS also wants to expand and takeover other regions, running the operation our way. So we have come to an agreement. One KAS team and one TWAS team will be paired with each other for the duration of the Christmas holidays, with the idea being that together we will eliminate more Vampires that we will alone. If the trial run succeeds then more partnerships will be created. If it does not, things will go back to the way they were before and TWAS will continue to try and take Kalos over. Any questions?"

For a moment none of us spoke as we all processed the information. Then Dawn looked up. "Wait, so we're going to have partners from TWAS?"

Grace nodded. "Correct."

"Who are our partners? Do we know them? What if we don't get on with each other?" Dawn fretted. She obviously thought the trial sounded like a good idea. Okay, so I admit that it is a good idea, but TWAS is full of stuck-up morons. (Don't tell Calem or Serena I said that.) Oh well, small price to pay if the success of the trial means TWAS agents getting off our backs.

It was Calem who answered Dawn's questions. "You should recognise them at least – you've been going to school with them since September." We were surprised by this piece of information to say the least.

"What?" Misty spoke first.

Grace frowned at the redhead. "Manners, Misty," she reprimanded. Since Grace had basically raised us since we were ten she was like a mother figure to us all as well as our superior commander, and Serena like an big sister despite also being our Organiser.

"Sorry," Misty glanced at Grace. "But still – you mean to say there have been TWAS Slayers in Kalos - in this very town – since September and we didn't know about them?"

Grace bowed her head briefly. "TWAS invading some of our key slaying areas and getting into fights with some full KAS Slayers is what brought this whole teamwork idea about," she admitted. "We didn't tell you because you didn't need to know."

I gritted my teeth. KAS was very strict about need-to-know policies – if something didn't affect you directly then you wouldn't be told about it. Simple as. It was really annoying though; sometimes I felt like I knew as much as I did in Maths class even though I've been here for roughly five years now.

Misty backed down, but I could see the anger in her eyes. It seemed I wasn't the only one unhappy with this. "Well – okay, fine, but who make up the TWAS team?" she asked. That was the question I was also dying to hear the answer to.

Grace nodded to Calem, and he lifted his wrist to his mouth. On his wrist was a device that looked like a watch but when he tapped it the screen flashed and he spoke into it: "You may come in now team." It was a simple communicating device developed by a KAS technician, Conway (who seemed to have some obsession with Dawn), but TWAS agents had stolen the design so now we all had them.

We didn't have long to wait for the TWAS team to arrive but we all sat in silence until they did. Glancing at my friends I noticed they all looked just as apprehensive as me, and none of us really felt like talking. Not even Dawn, who was fiddling with a strand of hair.

Finally the door opened and five familiar boys, all of whom I recognised from being in our year at school, filed in, taking seats opposite us.

Lucas, a boy with short dark hair and grey eyes, took the seat opposite Dawn. Next to him and opposite Misty was Rudy, a tall boy with auburn hair and dark eyes. He gave shot her a brief smile as he sat down, but Misty's expression was unreadable. Across from White sat Black, a guy with messy dark brown hair and lighter brown eyes. Then Red, a boy I recognised from mine and Leaf's maths class, sat opposite my brunette friend. Leaf looked surprised to see him, but not as surprised as I was to see the boy so too his seat across from me.

"Brendan?" I gaped openly. "You're a Slayer?" All down the table the other girls were having similar reactions.

Brendan nodded. "Yeah. Surprised to see me?" he grinned.

I nodded. "Yes! Oh, thanks for earlier by the way," I added, remembering how he helped me in maths.

"No problem," Brendan shrugged. "I knew you had this meeting to get to so I thought I'd better help out."

I frowned and turned to look at Grace. "Hang on – the boys knew we were Slayers but we didn't know they were Slayers?" My question cut through the talking going on throughout the room and everyone fell silent.

Grace nodded, looking regretful. "It was a need-to-know basis," was her reply. "I would have told you but I have to stick to KAS policies. It seems TWAS doesn't have the same guidelines as we do," she added with a glance at Calem, who ignored the subtle barb. Turning back to us, Grace stood up and gathered her papers. "For the duration of the holiday you will patrol in your pairs during the hours of darkness. At least one pair must be patrolling the town at all times along with the full Slayers we have stationed throughout area. The rota is on the noticeboard but I'll give you a heads up for tonight: four of you will take the first shift – May and Brendan with Leaf and Red – because the most Bitings happen during the first few hours of darkness," she explained. "Report to Serena and Calem before and after your shift. Then you're free to go back to your house. I'll see you all later," she said, taking her leave.

Serena and Calem looked at each other, before Calem cleared his throat. "Okay, so the TWAS team may have been in Kalos a while but this is our first time in your base. Maybe you could all show your partners around – the weapon store, training rooms etcetera? Get familiar with the surroundings," he suggested, glancing at Serena for her support.

Serena nodded enthusiastically. "Good idea! And I'll show you around too," she offered Calem, who just nodded. "After that I guess either train, go back to your homes – they're next to each other by the way, since KAS has provided them both for you – or hang out in the luxury quarters here. Just as long as the Slayers on the first shift report to me and Calem by four O' clock, you're good to go," she told us before leaving with Calem.

After she finished speaking, Brendan looked at me. "So, fancy showing me around then?" he asked. By the sound of it, the other boys were asking my friends the same thing.

I grinned. "Sure," I agreed happily, standing up. _Time to show this TWAS agent what a real Slayer base looks like!_

* * *

I spent about an hour showing Brendan around, and after that we headed to the training rooms. It never hurts to fit in more training, after all. It turned out Brendan was actually quite good – he was a match for me, at least. But unfortunately we didn't notice the time going by so when the clock struck four we panicked and had to run all the way to the briefing room.

Leaf and Red were already there by the time Brendan and I burst in, panting, and tried to stand to attention in front of Calem and Serena.

"Sorry!" I gasped. "We got caught up in training and-" I started to apologise (while Leaf, I noticed, looked on in amusement), but Serena waved her hand to stop me.

"No worries May, it doesn't start getting dark until at least half past four. Mum just wants us to be super-prepared, that's all," Serena shrugged. It still felt weird hearing her call Grace 'mum' in private, since in public she had to call the Head by her name just like any other agent, to keep up with formalities.

"So what's the brief?" Brendan asked from besides me, not seeming to care that we were late. He just looked eager to get started on the mission.

Calem looked up from the papers he held in his hand. "You four are to patrol the Town centre until midnight, when the next pair will come and relieve you. Just stay alert and if you encounter a Newly-Turned then you know what to do. Just try not to have a public confrontation. We're trying to keep the public unaware of this danger to prevent mass panic, remember."

We all nodded, and Serena dismissed us. This was the time of day I most looked forward to. The time where I could truly be myself. It was time to protect the citizens of Kalos.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hopefully that set the scene well enough, but if you're confused about anything or if I've made any mistakes then please tell me in a review or PM me and I'll sort it out.

The Vampires and Slayers will all meet each other next chapter, don't worry! I haven't forgotten them!

~ Jay


	3. The Vampires

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Pokemon :(

Yay, another update! I'm not going to say too much now because I don't want to give anything away, but I wonder if your opinions of Gary and Drew will still be the same after reading this... ;p

_Ready to fly:_ Thanks so much for your review and support; hopefully you'll like this chapter and you're about to see how the boys fit in :D

Enjoy!

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**Chapter Two**

**~ The Vampires ~**

**Leaf's POV**

I glanced at my watch. We had been patrolling the town centre for roughly two hours, and it was now seven minutes to six O' clock. "Maybe we should take a quick coffee break before the shops all close?" I suggested. "There's been no sign of Vampires so far and I could take a break," I reasoned. May perked up from the other side of Brendan when I mentioned a break, and I stifled a giggle.

Red looked uneasy. "We still need to be on our guard though. I don't know about you KAS Slayers, but at TWAS we're not used to slacking off," he commented. We were walking down the high street as he said this, just approaching the main square which was the shopping hub of the whole city.

"KAS Slayers never slack off!" May retorted, getting fired up. Red's remark had fuelled her short temper, and I had to suppress a laugh. May never failed to make me laugh, whatever the situation. I didn't think Red meant his remark to belittle us but of course May would take offense without hearing him out first. "We just know how to enjoy ourselves while of the job," May added huffily, crossing her arms and marching ahead.

Red held up his hands, surprised at May's tone. "Hey, I was only saying we should be careful. TWAS takes slacking really seriously," he called after her.

"May, wait for us!" I called after my friend, dragging the boys behind me as I hurried to catch up to her. Red, you and Brendan could go and circle the town square while May and I take a break? Eight hours is a long time to be on our feet nonstop," I pointed out. "We can take it in turns to have a break." We had the longest shift of eight hours, from four until twelve (lucky things that we were). Misty and Rudy would then have from twelve until four in the morning. Last of all White and Dawn would patrol with their partners Black and Lucas from four until eight am, which was roughly when the sun would come up.

Red and Brendan both looked at each other, and we stopped walking just as we reached the edge of the large town square around which the main shops were located, plus a couple of cafés, a restaurant, and a hot-dog bar.

"Well… I guess there's no harm in that," Brendan was the first to say. May instantly gave him a quick hug, having already forgotten her brief argument with Red.

"Yay! Finally, a food break!" my hyper-active friend squealed happily. I smirked as I noticed a faint red blush spread across Brendan's cheeks. May pulled back unaware of this and grabbed my hand. "Let's go," she said as she began to tug me along behind her.

"Wait – are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked my partner. "May and I will keep our eyes peeled, don't _worry. No Vampires will get past us," I promised, watching the doubt in his brown-eyed gaze_ fade away slowly.

Red shrugged, and I subconsciously noted that the wind was getting its own way with his ever-messy brown hair. Not that it looked bad… "Yeah, go have a coffee break. Just don't forget to bring me and Brendan something," he replied with a smile.

"Sure, thanks," I returned his smile before letting May drag me over to our favourite café of all time – Cloyster Café. The staff were all super friendly and they made the best hot chocolates in the whole of Kalos. Cloyster Café also had a nostalgic value for the girls and I – it was where we first met each other all those years ago and so ever since every Friday (plus any other time we wanted to go to a café) we always headed to Cloyster Café, or Cloy-Caf for short.

There were still a few late shoppers May and I had to dodge as we made our way through the thinning crowd, but not enough for May to bump into anyone (which she accidentally does on a regular basis when in any sort of crowd). Most looked like they were on their way home anyway, and when we reached Cloy-Caf it looked like they were ready to pack up for the day since there was only one person visible in the window and she was putting the chairs on the tables so she could sweep the floor. Luckily the waitress was Nicolette, a friend of ours, so we pushed open the door and walked right into the otherwise empty café.

Nicolette, who was a year younger than us at fifteen and had wild red hair in two pigtails, looked up as we entered. She wore the Cloy-Caf uniform of a smart blue shirt and a pleated skirt, and overall she looked quite smart and professional. She only worked there as a waitress because her parents owned the place and it was by working there that she earned her pocket money. "Hey gurls, fancy seeing you two here so late," she greeted us. "Can I get you something or did ya just stop by for a chat? It's nearly closing time ya know, so best be quick," she added with a toothy grin.

May's face lit up at seeing her and I offered her a warm smile. "Actually, we were wondering if we could possible get a couple of hot chocolates to drink in and a couple to take out?" I asked in the most persuasive tone I could use. Nicolette just rolled her eyes at me.

"Sure ya can gurly, 'slong as ya tip well," she said with a wink. Nicolette may have been younger than us but she didn't act like it. She was almost more streetwise that we were at times!

"It's great to see you again though," May piped up. "We're sorry we didn't come by earlier with Misty, Dawn and White like usual, but we had some stuff to take care of. We'll be here next Friday at the usual time though," she promised.

Nicolette shot us both a quick smile as she leaned her broom against the wall before going behind the counter to make up the drinks. "No worries gurl, I knew ya hadn't forgotten me," she said. "You two just take a seat by the window and I'll have ya drinks in a jiffy."

May and I took our seats and made small talk with Nicolette for the next few minutes, while she was making up our drinks. Finally she approached our table carrying a tray with the four hot chocolates, two to drink in and two to take out like we had asked, and set it down gently. "Care to tell me who the other two drinks are for? Or are they just in case ya get thirsty later?" Nicolette asked playfully.

May and I exchanged a glance, wondering how much to tell her. We couldn't tell her the truth because she didn't know we were Slayers and though I disliked lying to her, it was hard to avoid in the current situation. Since May was rubbish (no offense, but you saw what happened in Maths) at making up excuses, I was the one who spoke up. "Oh, a couple of school friends are waiting for us outside but they didn't want to come in because they're kind of shy," I said evasively.

Nicolette seemed to buy the excuse because she grabbed the handle of her broom and resumed sweeping the floor.

"Hey, this is amazing!" May exclaimed after sipping her drink. I tasted it and immediately agreed with her.

"You know Nics, I really think you and your parents should start a chain of Cloyster cafes – you'd make bundles of money," I told her, blowing gently on my drink to cool it down before sipping at it tentatively.

"Ah, thanks gurls. It's my parents dream for me do just that actually, and as soon as I finish school I'm gonna make that dream a reality," Nicolette told us, pausing in her clearing up the café. Her mossy-green eyes shined as she spoke and I couldn't stop a smile from forming on my face.

"Go for it Nics," I encouraged her, happy she had a dream she could follow.

May nodded in agreement. "I know you'll go far – in ten years from now Leaf, the girls and I will still all be visiting your café every Friday wherever we are in the world!" she added enthusiastically.

Nicolette laughed. "Sure, I'd love that to be true," she grinned.

I took another sip of hot chocolate but it was still too hot. "I don't suppose I could have a tad more milk? It's just that it's still a bit hot and May and I are in a bit of a rush to drink these," I asked apologetically.

"'Course ya can gurl, I'll just nip down to the storeroom where we keep the milk in the fridge. I won't be sec," Nicolette told us, dropping her brush and making her way to the back of the shop where she opened a door which had steps leading down to the basement, which is where I guessed the storeroom was.

I glanced out of the window at the town square. In the very centre was a fountain spouting clear water. It was large and picturesque with several mini marble statues of pokémon decorating it and also spouting water. There were several benches and then of course the shops lining the edges of the town square. I even saw Red and Brendan on the other side of the fountain. They looked like two regular guys blending in with the crowd, but I knew better. They each carried a minimum of two stakes concealed in their clothing and I knew that their eyes were darting around scanning for any unordinary behaviour without having to be close enough to see them.

Glancing back at May, I frowned slightly. "It's a bit odd that we haven't seen any Vampires yet," I commented in a low voice. Nicolette could return at any moment and I didn't want her to overhear me.

May swallowed another sip of hot chocolate (it was a mystery to me how her mouth wasn't burning) and nodded. The lights in the small café were dim but with my trained eyes I could pick out every detail of the sea-themed wallpaper even to the very back of the shop. "I suppose," May agreed. "Unless they're just waiting for the streets to be almost completely deserted so that when they bite someone there's less chance of them being seen?" she wondered.

"Maybe," I replied, "but I still have a bad feeling about this…"

"I know what you mean," May agreed. Then she paused to look around the dimly lit shop. The silence mixed with the shadows in the corners was slightly spooky and I forced myself not to shudder. "Shouldn't Nicolette have returned by now?" she asked suddenly, making me jump.

Recovering, I frowned. "Yes," I said slowly. "She only went to get milk. She should have come back five minutes ago." Alarm bells were ringing in my head and I stood up. My chair made a soft squeal of protest as it scraped against the wooden floor and even that small sound put me on edge.

"Do you think she had an accident?" May asked worriedly, also standing up. "Let's go and find her." She led the way to the door at the back of the shop with me following close behind her. Together we dismounted the steps but the passage narrowed at the bottom so we had to walk in single file to the storeroom door. Some light escaped through he cracks around the door so we could see where we were going. I longed to ask May why the door was closed – Nicolette was just fetching milk, she wouldn't have needed to close the door – but I dared not break the silence. Both May and I were treading extremely carefully and as quietly as possible but when May reached the door she gave it a firm push. It swung back on its hinges to reveal a horrifying scene.

Crouched over something at the back of the storeroom on the stone floor were two hunched figures, but the moment May and I burst into the room one leaped up and sped towards us with superhuman speed.

"Vampire," I snarled, slipping the stake I had earlier concealed up my sleeve down into my hand. The Vampire standing before me had brown, dangerously spiky hair and was a head taller than I was, but that didn't worry me. His eyes glowed red with bloodlust like every Vampire's eyes did once they smelled or tasted blood, and the dark, sticky substance itself dripped from his fangs.

"Slayer," the Vampire smirked, licking the blood from his fangs. I tensed. "And what a pretty one you are, too," he had the nerve to add.

I tightened my grip on the stake. My heart was beating way to fast, and my palms were growing sweaty. I raised the stake, but the Vampire was faster. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, spinning me into his arms. He was much stronger than I was and I was powerless to resist, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. "Let go of me and I might let you live," I hissed through clenched teeth. Being so close to a Vampire – being in the _arms_ of a Vampire – was making me feel sick to my stomach.

"I don't think so," the Vampire murmured in my ear. I shuddered, trying to pull away, but his grip was like iron. "My, your heart's beating rather fast," he purred. "Most girls would _die_ to be in your position, so why struggle?"

I spat at his glowing red eyes, taking him by surprise. He stumbled backwards, momentarily blinded, and I sized my chance to dart away from him and ready my stake. "That was a sick joke," I glared at him angrily. "It's not funny, it's disgusting."

The Vampire was still rubbing his eyes so I advanced with my stake raised but before I could plunge it into his heart, May screamed. I whirled around to see her pointing at the figure lying on the ground, where one Vampire was still crouched.

My heart almost stopped. "Nicolette," I mumbled numbly. The stake slipped through my fingers and hit the ground with a crash, but I was frozen in place staring at my friend. In the bad lighting I could just see that her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The blood had been drained from her body. "No," I muttered to myself. "No, no, no. Not Nicolette," I repeated over and over, forgetting the Vampire I had been about to stake.

"You. You did this," May accused the Vampire still crouched over Nicolette's still body. "Get away from her, now." I could only watch as the second Vampire, this one with emerald hair but the same dark red eyes as the first Vampire, also with blood trailing down his chin and dripping onto the floor, stood up slowly.

"Don't tell me you're seriously _ordering_ me to leave," the Vampire mocked as he advanced towards May. "Can rookie Slayers only fight with words now? You're worse than a Slayer straight out of their first day at Slayer school," he taunted. "Or have stakes gone out of fashion?"

May shook her head. Her eyes were wide with shock but a stake appeared in her hand and she raised it menacingly. "I'll kill you," she whispered in a voice that was barely audible. "I'll kill you for what you did."

The Vampire chuckled humourlessly. "I'm scared," he hissed at her. "Not."

"Nicolette did nothing wrong," May began, rage building up in her eyes. "She was just a girl. Just an innocent girl. She had dreams! She had dreams and you crushed them! Now she'll never do any of what she wanted to do, because she's dead! She had her blood drained by you! You foul, murderous, heartless, soulless, monster!" May screamed, lunging forward with her stake.

I still couldn't move. I could only watch as May, driven by her raw emotions instead of her training, missed the Vampire's heart as he dodged and knocked the sharpened wood out of her hand.

"You'll have to do better than that," the Vampire had the audacity to gloat. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a thornless red rose that had been submerged in blood. "Here – have a reminder of your defeat today," he smirked as he chucked it at May, who caught it instinctively.

May stared down at it, and then looked up at the Vampire. "You're sick. A sick joke, like Leaf said. You better hope I don't run into you again after tonight, because if I do I'm going to kill you," she warned, her voice steady.

"Well, that was a nice show, but now we really must be going," a lazy voice interrupted. Finally able to move again, I whipped round to face the first Vampire. "It was a pleasure making the acquaintance of such a pretty girl; may I have the honour of knowing her name before I leave?" The red in his eyes was beginning to disappear as the bloodlust gradually faded away, and I saw that his eyes were actually a dark brown. I shuddered.

"This isn't over," I said. Suddenly I lunged forwards again, rage mixing with sadness and lending extra power to my swipe. But the Vampire simply smirked and faster than I could blink he had me pressed against the wall with his teeth at my neck and my stake halfway across the room.

"I like the feisty ones," he whispered in my ear. I struggled, kicking and scratching him in my desperation to get away. My spare stake was strapped to my calf but I couldn't reach it, so I was defenceless. "Oh don't worry, I'm not going to bite you," he added smugly. "My name is Gary, and I would love the chance to get to know you better."

I couldn't believe my ears. "You just killed one of my friends and sucked her dry," I stated. I was hearing the words as they came out of my mouth but nothing had sunk in yet. The pain was just numb.

"So?"

I gritted my teeth. "_So_, you're lucky I don't have a stake in my hands right now."

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

My head snapped up and I stared over Gary's shoulder to look at the other Vampire, who was holding his wrist up to his ear. He appeared to be listening to something before lowering his wrist and moving over to Gary and I so fast he looked like a blur.

"That was Paul. Apparently we've overstayed our welcome here," the Vampire informed Gary.

"But Drew, we're having so much fun," Gary pouted. Or at least, he tried to pout. His fangs, which were still out after his recent meal, ruined the effect.

"May!" I shouted to my friend, who had moved to kneel next to Nicolette on the floor. "Your stake!" Unfortunately she wasn't quick enough. Drew the Vampire whisked across the room and gathered both mine and May's stakes before May could move a single step. He then snapped them as in they were matches, even though they were made out of the hardest wood in all of Kalos.

Drew's eyes had also returned to normal – an emerald green, like his hair – and he approached May with a slight swagger in his step. "_Try_ to learn the basics of Slaying before you embarrass yourself in front of real Vampires next time, April," he said patronisingly before transforming into a bat in the blink of an eye and flapping out of the room.

Gary backed away from me, winked, and then followed Drew after also changing into a bat.

May and I stared at each other. Such a whirlwind of emotions were coursing through my body that I felt slightly out of it, but May's next words brought me firmly back to reality.

"My name isn't April," she muttered mutinously, "it's May."

Through my tears I couldn't stop the faint smile. Even if our whole world came crashing down around our ears I would always be able to rely on May to lighten up the situation. But then I glanced back at Nicolette's lifeless, bloodless body, and I felt numb. I stumbled over to her and collapsed next to her. Now that the Vampires had gone, the reality of what had just happened finally sunk in, and the tears began to flow from my eyes.

* * *

"We should go and find the boys," I said eventually, breaking the silence. May and I had spent the last ten minutes hunting for a blanket or sheet to cover Nicolette's body after we had forced ourselves to pull together, and now we were just sitting with our backs against the wall of the storeroom pondering over the night's events so far.

"Yeah," May nodded. Her voice was hoarse from crying and her eyes were rimmed red. I guessed I didn't look or sound any better. "But what are we going to do about N-N-Nicolette?" May gulped, trying hard to hold herself together. "We can't just leave her here."

A lump rose up in the back of my throat and I swallowed hard trying to get it to disappear. "Serena will organise it once we get back to base," I managed to get out, not trusting myself to speak much more. Slowly I stood up and took one last glance at the body wrapped in sheets. May mirrored my movements and then we both headed for the stairs.

If the Vampires had been lying in wait for us in the café, May and I would have been easy prey. My hands were shaking so that holding a stake would have been near impossible, and May had linked her arm through mine for support standing up. We both wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and forget the rest of the world but as Slayers we had a duty and, however hard it was, we were going to see that duty through.

The walk from the back of the café to the front of it seemed incredibly long. The dim lighting played tricks on our tired eyes and May tripped over a chair at one point so I had to help her up despite all the strength having left my arms. But we eventually made it to the door.

I was the first one to push the door open and go outside, and what I saw made me want to scream.

Five boys that looked to be teenagers were standing with their backs to the fountain facing the café. However, they weren't teenagers. May and I walked forward at the same time until we could clearly see their skin was the colour of snow and all of them had their fangs out. Surrounding them were the other KAS-TWAS teams: Dawn and Lucas, Misty and Rudy, White and Black. Red and Brendan were also there but the moment we appeared they rushed towards us.

"What happened to you?" Brendan asked, alarmed by our appearance as he reached May's side. She just shook her head and let go of my arm to clutch onto his.

I turned to Red. "What's going on?" I asked him, using every last bit of remaining strength to keep my voice as steady as possible.

Red could clearly see how upset I was but he answered my question anyway and didn't press me, which I was grateful for. "About thirty minutes ago two Vampires left Cloyster Café in the form of bats. They changed back into their regular forms by the fountain and Brendan and I thought we could handle it but then three more arrived so we called for back-up from the rest of the TWAS-KAS teams since we weren't sure where you and May were. Now, here we are," he explained. I nodded dumbly. The lump in my throat had risen up again and I couldn't trust myself to speak again.

I walked forward, slowly, and joined the others circling the five Vampires. Red stuck close to my side and put his arm around me. I wanted to pull away and tell him I didn't need him to support me, but if I was honest I knew I would collapse if he wasn't there.

"Well, if it isn't June. Think that now you've got your little Slayer friends backing you up you might actually stand a chance against me?" the Vampire who had given May the blood rose, (which I noticed she was still clutching even though the now dry blood had stained her hands red) Drew, asked mockingly.

A growl rose in May's throat and she tried to lunge forwards and spring at him, but Brendan held her back. "Let go of me!" she cried. "He deserves to die for what he did!"

"No – you're not thinking straight," Brendan muttered, refusing to let her go.

Drew smirked. "Maybe one day you'll manage it," he told her condescendingly. I wanted to rip his head off for that but I held myself back.

"What do you want here?" Misty interrupted. She glanced briefly at May and I but kept her mind firmly on the task at hand. I admired her self-control. She had yet to learn of Nicolette's fate but when she did, I doubted she would be quite so calm.

"Hn," a Vampire with shaggy purple hair uttered before turning his back to us and saying something to the other Vampires. Four of them vanished in puffs of smoke right before our eyes, but one stayed behind. I clenched my fists upon seeing it was Gary. He approached me with a smirk on his face despite all the stakes the other Slayers were holding at his back. I reached down for the stake strapped to my leg but Gary's hand shot out and he gripped my wrist, stopping me from moving.

"This has been fun, Leafy. We really should meet up again sometime," he winked at me (again) and then followed the other Vampires by vanishing in a puff of smoke, leaving me glaring at thin air.

"He is so dead the next time he dares show his fangs anywhere near me," I hissed angrily.

Suddenly I found myself, along with May being pulled into the arms of our best friends. Misty, White and Dawn all enveloped us in their arms, leaving the boys to stand by awkwardly and watch us.

"Come, on, let's get back to base," White murmured. "You can tell us everything that happened there."

We lost a valuable friend that day. I was determined to avenge her, no matter what the cost. I let my friends lead me away, but I knew I would never forget the sight of that spiky haired Vampire crouched over Nicolette's body. And I would never forgive him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Heh... heh... so what did you all think? I write this at about midnight last night and I gave myself nightmares... Heh, serves me right for doing it so late.

I do have a couple of things to say though: first, Nicolette is an actual character in the anime and originally I was just going to have a random waitress who the girls don't actually know, but giving them an emotional attachment to the boy's kill gives them a real reason to have the Vampires (which will make things more complicated later on ;) )

Also, I would love some feedback on my characterisation of Leaf. Was it good or bad? Because I'm really not sure... I love Leaf but she's the hardest for me to write.

Thanks for reading!

~ Jay


	4. Companions

**Disclaimer: **I don't own pokemon, never have, probably never will :'(

And here is the next chapter! I wrote half of this when I was supposed to be revising for my History Exam, so feel special :P I chose you guys over History! :D

Thanks so much for everyone's support, and hopefully you'll all enjoy this chapter :) One person pointed out that May's character could do with a bit more development because she isn't always dense, which I agree with 100%, but unfortunately I wasn't able to develop her character much in this chapter due to developing the storyline but I'll fit in some development next chapter, so stay tuned for that :D

In response to anonymous reviews:

**Veronica17:** _I'm really sorry, it appears I uploaded the wrong chapter last time by accident, so sorry for the confusion. But thanks for your support! :D_

**Ready to fly:** _Thank you! Hopefully Leaf's character continues to come across like that in this chapter too. Haha yep, that's exactly how I imagine the Vampires to be as well :) There's some more Vampire action in this chapter so I hope it meets your expectations and you enjoy reading it :D_

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**~ Companions ~**

**White's POV**

The coffee machine hummed as I leaned against the counter, lost in thought. The long night was far from giving way to dawn and I had a lot on my mind. So much so, that when the coffee machine bleeped to let me know it had finished I jumped, startled. Raising my hand to my chest, I took in a deep breath, calming my racing heart, before getting my coffee from the machine.

"White? What are you still doing up?" asked a boy with messy brown hair as he entered the kitchen with a yawn. I was so tired that I wasn't even surprised when the TWAS boy walked in like he owned the place.

"I could ask you the same thing, Black," I replied, warming my cold fingers on the steaming mug in my hands.

Black shrugged, going to make his own cup of coffee. "I'm not sure any of us will be able to sleep after what happened," he murmured.

I stiffened. My eyes were still red from crying after Leaf told me and the others what had happened to Nicolette, but I held my tears back this time. "I suppose you're right," I conceded in a raspy voice. Black looked over at me sympathetically.

"Was the girl they killed a good friend of yours?" he asked hesitantly.

I took a sip of my coffee before answering. "Yeah. We all go way back," I replied sadly, my thoughts drifting back to the first time the girls and I met the young waitress who helped her parents out with their quaint little café. Shaking my head to rid myself of the memories before I started crying again, I changed the subject. "How's May?"

Out of all of them, May fared the worst after Nicolette's death. She refused to speak and, to my knowledge, was still in the Slayer's lounge staring into space while Brendan tried to coax her to talk.

Black shrugged. "She's upset," he said. Then he gave me a long look, capturing my gaze with his warm brown eyes. "How are you?"

"I'm…" I hesitated. How did I feel? I wasn't sure. I was extremely upset after the events which led up to Nicolette's death, but my tears had subsided long ago. Now, I just felt numb. "I'm okay," I replied at last.

"You sure?" Black slurped his coffee but his eyes never left mine. I felt a warm feeling blossom in my stomach. It was nice to know someone cared.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Where's everyone else?" I asked, changing the subject.

Black looked about to reply when the loud speakers hidden in every room in the base crackled into life. "All Slayers must report to Room 005, Section B." The message repeated itself as Black grinned.

"Did that answer your question?"

I managed a small smile. "Come on let's go." I quickly finished my coffee and then we headed out of the kitchen with me leading the way.

The clock struck four in the morning as Black and I trailed into Room 005, Section B: otherwise known as the lounge.

"Hey White." Misty was the only one to greet me, although Leaf, May and Dawn were all there, curled up on the sofa. Misty was sitting in one of the armchairs and I shot her a tight smile.

"Hey," I replied. The boys were all standing around awkwardly but they greeted Black when he joined them. I guessed the girls were taking Nicolette's death as hard as I was. I looked at May. Her face was pale and she seemed to be staring off into the distance. Leaf had a determined look lingering in her eyes as she gazed at a fixed spot on the wall, barely blinking. Dawn looked like she'd only just stopped crying, and was still holding a tissue up to her face. I quietly took a seat in the armchair next to Misty while the boys all piled onto the other sofa and the other two armchairs.

The door swung open a moment later and Grace walked in, followed by Serena and Calem. None of them looked like they had been affected by the recent events, and Grace simply took her usual place, standing in front of the fireplace. Serena and Calem sat down in chairs either side of her.

"Girls, I know this must be difficult for you," Grace began gently, her eyes lingering on each of us in turn. "Nicolette's death has just served to remind us how inhumane, how merciless, and how ruthless Vampires truly are. Never forget that, any of you," she said, addressing the boys as well.

"We know." It was Leaf who spoke up. "I assume you've got a mission for us?" Her tone was void of expression but she had the same determined look on her face that I'd seen in her eyes earlier. Grace nodded.

"For us, them, or all of us?" one of the boys spoke up. I looked over at them and realised the speaker was Rudy.

"Well, I have three things to tell you. The first thing is that your night shifts are to continue as normal from tomorrow night onwards, in your same pairs. The next thing is that I have a special job for Leaf, Conway, and Trevor, straight after this meeting. Red, since Leaf is your partner, you're welcome to join them. The last thing concerns the Christmas Ball and New Year's Eve party, both of which are main events in the town," Grace informed us.

"They are? I've never heard of them before," I commented in surprise.

"Probably because we always went home to our families over the holidays in previous years," Misty said sensibly. "What's our mission Grace?"

"Your mission will be to supervise both parties. You will be invited as guests but you'll be on your guard all evening. It's a prime opportunity for the Vampires to strike as a lot of people will end up drunk by the end of the evening and they'll become particularly vulnerable," Grace explained.

I nodded. It made sense, although I didn't really feel like going to a party any time soon. But Dawn perked up slightly at the mention of parties.

"We get to go as guests? And dress up and everything?" the blundette checked, a tad of excitement colouring her hoarse voice.

Grace nodded. "Yes. You mustn't forget the reason you're there, though," she said firmly.

"Of course not," Dawn promised.

"What about us? Are we going as well?" Lucas asked.

Calem stood up from his seat by the fire. "You boys will be accompanying the girls as their dates," he told them. For a moment no-one spoke. Everyone was unsure how to greet this news, until Misty spoke up.

"But we hardly know them. And they're the enemy," the redhead pointed out, appealing more to Serena that Grace or Calem.

"The boys are your partners," Serena reminded her. "It's important you stick together, plus you need a date to go the party in the first place."

"What if someone else asked us?" I asked. I was merely curious about the answer, I wasn't actually suggesting it as a possibility. I doubted anyone would ask me to the Ball of their own free will, but Grace seemed to take me seriously.

"I'm afraid you have to stick with your assigned partner for the whole of both events. It's for your own safety, and the safety of the people you will be protecting," Grace answered firmly.

"And for the sake of the KAS-TWAS trial," someone muttered under their breath, but I didn't catch who.

"Leaf, Red, please follow me. I advise the rest of you to get some sleep; you're all taking shifts on patrol tonight," Grace closed the meeting and left the room. Leaf reluctantly got up and followed her with Red tagging along behind her.

I watched them go before turning to my friends. "I guess we should all get some rest then," I said, yawning. I hadn't really realised how tired I was, but then I had been awake all night.

"Yeah." Everyone excepting May nodded. May had been staring off into space for the whole meeting. I frowned, getting up to go and sit next to her in the space Leaf had vacated.

"Should we stay?" Dawn asked, casting a worried glance at May.

I shook my head. "I got this. You and Misty should show the boys where they're sleeping," I said.

"Okay. Bye White. See you later May," Dawn murmured sadly, following Misty and the boys out of the room. Well, most of the boys. One stayed behind, and it didn't take a genius to figure out it was Brendan.

"May, you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked her, hesitating in the doorway. May ignored him, staring straight ahead.

_Leave May to me_, I mouthed at him. _She'll be fine._

"Well, okay then. I guess I'll see you in a bit then," Brendan sighed and closed the door behind him.

The moment we had the room to ourselves, May turned to me, her eyes wide and distressed. "I can't get him out of my head," she whispered, sounding distraught.

Feeling my heart constrict with pain, I put my arms round her in a hug. "I know what you mean," I agreed, figuring she had meant to say 'her'. "Nicolette was such a great friend. I'm really going to miss all those Friday afternoons spent in her café, talking about nothing…" I trailed off as May pulled away slightly, to look me in the eye.

"Not Nicolette," she said. "_Him._"

I frowned I confusion. If this wasn't about Nicolette, who was it about? "Who do you mean?" I asked carefully.

May blinked. "The Vampire," she spat. "_Drew._ I hate him so much – he's sick. He gave me a rose dipped in Nicolette's blood, and the sight is stuck in my head. I keep trying to forget but nothing is working!" she wailed.

"That's barbaric," I breathed in disgust, but May just whimpered and I realised my comment wasn't helping. I pulled her closer to me and held her in my arms as she began to cry again, trying to think of a way to help her forget. With May crying next to me, it wasn't long before I was crying as well. Misty and Dawn came back a few minute later, looking for us. When they saw the state of us they pulled us onto the floor and we ended up as one huge pile of sobbing messes.

It felt good to finally let it all out while clinging to each other for dear life, and eventually we all fell asleep.

It was midday before we all woke up, but we stayed in the pile on the floor where we'd fallen asleep. Misty was the first one to speak. "Okay, that's enough crying. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?" Her breathing was slightly uneven but when I looked at her, her eyes were clear and shone with determination.

"You're right. We're alive, and we that means we can do something about it. We can't let those monsters continue destroying lives like this," I agreed hoarsely, coughing.

Dawn grabbed some tissues from the coffee table and passed them round. "You're right, but we need something to take our minds off N-N-Nicolette first," she said, swallowing hard when she said our lost friend's name.

May nodded. She needed something to take her mind off what had happened more than any of us. "W-what do you s-s-suggest?" she asked, hiccupping.

"I've got just the thing," Dawn replied with a small smile. "But first, let's go and find Leaf."

* * *

**Normal POV**

Deep within the walls of an old castle situated at the top of a tall hill on the outskirts of the town, five teenaged boys were walking through a stone corridor, heading in the direction of the dungeons.

They were all unnaturally pale, which was evident even in the dim light shed from flaming torches attacked to the walls at intervals, and they walked with supernatural grace.

"The rose was a nice touch Drew," the Vampire with spiky auburn hair congratulated his friend. "That Slayer girl looked freaked out."

Drew took bowed mockingly. "Why thank you. She was obviously an amateur. Barely out of Slayer school, if she ever even went."

"It sounds like the rose was a step too far to me," muttered N. "Would it not have just been kinder to kill the girl? Both of them?" he asked with a sidelong look at Gary, who smirked at the memory of the brunette with green eyes whom he had mockingly courted.

"No." It was Paul, the tallest, most intimidating Vampire, who replied. "Veronica reported unusual behaviour coming from the Slayers Associations. They're up to something: we need them alive to uncover their plot," he said firmly, looking at each of his associates in turn. "Understand?"

They all mumbled agreement, and for a few seconds the silence was filled with the sound of their footsteps echoing around the corridor as they walked.

Then a thought occurred to Gary. "Since when did my companion answer to you?" he asked Paul suspiciously.

Paul rolled his eyes. "Your 'companion' is the best techie we've got. It made sense for me to use her," he grunted.

Gary just mumbled something under his breath which Paul heard, due to his extra-sharp hearing, but chose not to respond to.

"Why are we down here anyway?" asked Ash. A yellow and white cap was perched on his head and his hands were in his pockets, but like the other Vampires he walked with grace.

Gary heaved a noisy sigh. "We're going to check on the Newly-Turned remember, Ashy-boy?"

Ash's brow creased in confusion. "Why?"

It was N who answered him this time. "Newly-Turneds shouldn't be left unsupervised for too long. More often than not they have no idea what happened to them, or what they are. All they have is a strong thirst for blood. They may tear each other to bits if we're not careful."

"Oh," Ash nodded. "I remember now."

"Imbecile," Paul muttered under his breath. "You should not have forgotten in the first place."

"It's standard protocol Ash, it's not that hard to remember," Drew agreed as they reached the trapdoor. "But you can brush up on that later. Who's going first?"

Paul didn't bother to answer as he ripped the trapdoor up and vanished down in.

"Guess that answers that," Gary commented. "I'll go next." After he jumped down N followed him, then Ash, and finally Drew, who had to shut the trapdoor behind him as he jumped.

In the dungeons it was pitch black. If the Vampires had been able to breathe, they would have found it stifling.

"Come out," Paul ordered. "We know you're there." For a moment nothing happened. Then, as if on a silent command, red orbs of light blinked into existence.

"This part always creeps me out," Gary muttered.

"It's unnatural," N agreed as the red orbs began moving about in pairs.

"_We're _unnatural," Paul snarled at them. "Get over it."

Gary and N, wisely, didn't answer back.

"Who are you?" a voice hissed from among the sea of glowing, ruby-red eyes.

"Where are we?"

"What have you done to us?"

"Why are we here?"

The questions flowed forth, but none of the five experienced Vampires said anything until the questions began losing steam and the last question was asked.

"_What_ are we?" asked a smooth voice. Paul pointed in its direction, a grim smile on his face although the darkness made it impossible for anyone to see it.

"You," Paul said. "You passed the test."

"Paul!" Gary instantly turned on the purple-headed Vampire. "You can't make that decision without first consulting us!"

"How do you know he's up to scratch? He's probably some weak wannabe," Drew added, anger tinging his voice.

"We know nothing about him," N added his voice to the mix.

Only Ash didn't complain. When Gary realised Ash was being unusually quiet, he turned on the raven-haired Vampire. "Well? Don't you have anything to add?"

Ash blinked. "What are we talking about again?"

There was a collective groan from Gary, Drew, and N, but Paul ignored them and snapped his fingers. The dungeon lights flickered on and revealed the owners of the red eyes to be about twenty Newly-Turned Vampires, all looking similar with deathly pale skin, glowing ruby eyes, and enhanced features which made them all twice as attractive as an average human.

The Newly-Turneds flinched away from the light, shielding their eyes. "Turn it off, turn it off!" some wailed, but the Vampire Paul had singled out stayed silent. One more thing all the Newly-Turneds had in common was that they were all male. All, but one. The one Paul had singled out.

"I'm Ursula," the Newly-Turned introduced herself. Paul looked unfazed but the other experienced Vampires exchanged looks of shock. Newly-Turneds rarely remembered anything of their previous lives, especially _female _ones. "Mind giving me an answer to my question?" She stood straight-backed, not flinching away from the light. With her pale skin, secretive, dark eyes and peach hair pulled into pigtails that spiralled down to points that matched Gary's dangerously spikey hair, she looked beautiful but deadly. Just as a Vampire should look.

She didn't look intimidated when Paul moved across the room to stand in front of her faster than she could blink. And when Paul opened his mouth to show her his fangs, she looked merely intrigued.

"Vampires," Paul told her. "We're Vampires." The other Newly-Turneds looked like they were trying to get their heads round this face, but Ursula only grinned. "But, you already knew that, didn't you," Paul stated. It wasn't a question. He only said it aloud for the benefit of the other Vampires.

Ursula dipped her head. "I did."

Paul abruptly turned on his heel, striding over to one of the stone walls. "Come with me," he ordered Ursula. When he touched the wall in a certain place a door appeared, which he opened.

"Wait," Drew put out a hand to halt the Newly-Turned. "Paul, what's going on? You can't just take this one away and leave the rest of us to complete the initiation ceremony alone. Why do you need her anyway? Surely a girl can't have been the one to pass the test?"

Paul gave Drew a long look. "She's the one I've been searching for," he said simply. "My companion. She is perfectly adequate."

Then he directed Ursula out of the door and shut it behind him, leaving his four associates behind to deal with the Newly-Turneds. As Drew turned back to face the Newly-Turneds, he folded his arms. He hoped Paul was right about Ursula. Because if he was wrong… the consequences didn't bear thinking about.

* * *

**Leaf's POV**

"Argh!" I ran my hands through my hair for the thousandth time that morning. I had barely had two hours sleep and my exhaustion wasn't helping my concentration as I sat in front of the computer.

Next to me, Red sighed. "Don't you think you should take a break? When Grace told you to help Conway and Trevor hack into the Vampire's main system I'm sure she only meant you to find out what their activities for the next few days are going to be, which you found hours ago," he pointed out. "Why are we still here?"

"Don't you like my techie room?" Conway asked Red, looking hurt as he gave the Slayer a sly glance.

I watched as Red shivered. If I wasn't exhausted beyond the point of feeling, I would have laughed. Conway was creeping Red out as the TWAS Slayer wasn't used to him.

Conway and Trevor was monitoring the cameras at the moment, ensuring no-one was going to come and interrupt us while I worked. The tech room wasn't bad, although according to Red it wasn't nearly as advanced as the TWAS one.

"I know, but there's way more going on here than Grace thinks," I answered, rubbing my eyes tiredly. I had been staring at the screen for too long but I couldn't tear them away. "Vampires aren't just simple-minded beasts. They have brains, they plan things, they… they work like _us_. And they have a whole culture hidden inside their castle walls," I said, still trying to get my own mind round it.

"So?" Red asked. "We're Slayers, that doesn't stop us from killing them. Who care about their 'culture'?"

I sighed in frustration as I scrolled down on the screen, scanning the text as I answered Red. "Yes, it does. The Vampires don't just want to kill everyone and suck our blood. They have a whole…" I paused, searching for the word. "A whole _system_ hidden beneath the surface that we know nothing of. Just like us they're organised, they have leaders, they have a king, they have a complicated aristocracy, and they have the foot soldiers." I paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "The Vampires we've been slaying over the past few years. Over the past hundreds of years, if you go back down the Slayer generations, are only the foot soldiers," I explained.

Red stilled. "What does that mean?" He breathed the question. If I wasn't so tired I probably would have been shaking right now.

"It means, we've been killing the wrong Vampires. We slay the Newly-Turneds, the brainwashed, careless ones. The ones the Vampires _want_ us to slay. But, according to this Vampire history, never in the whole of history has a senior Vampire been slain." A senior Vampire was a Vampire who had been around for over fifty years. Until they'd been Vampires for at least fifty years, they were classed as Fresh Vampires or, if they'd been turned recently, they were Newly-Turned.

Red opened and closed his mouth. "You mean…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence. "This is way bigger than we thought," I nodded.

"We have to tell Calem and the other SA leaders," Red said, turning around and running for the door.

"Trevor, stop him!" I called out, panicked. Luckily the TWAS technician did as I asked, preventing Red from exiting the room.

"What? Why?" Red sounded thoroughly confused.

"No-one can know about this," I told him. "We'll tell our teammates but no-one else, especially not the Slayers Association leaders, can find out."

Red walked back over to me. "Why?" he asked simply.

I finally tore my eyes away from the screen and met his eyes. "It will cause panic. If we tell Calem, Grace, Serena, or anyone else they'll be forced to obey protocol and inform everyone else."

"So what do we do?" Trevor asked.

"We deal with it ourselves," I said confidently. "We keep doing what Grace wants us to do – kill the Newly-Turned – but we find a way to bring the Vampires crashing down from the inside. And I think I have the perfect plan."

Red sat down. He looked pale. It was a lot to take in, and if I was in his place I'd probably feel rather faint as well. "Okay," he mumbled. "What's the plan?"

I turned my eyes back to the screen, scrolling up until I found what I was looking for. "Every Vampire has a weakness. Not a physical weakness, for experienced Vampires are clever enough to overcome physical weaknesses. Their weakness is their companion. Somewhere in the world, there is a companion, a counterpart, for every single Vampire. Once they find their companion the two are invincible together, but separate them and they become vulnerable. Kill one of them, and the other will be defenceless.

"Take note that a Vampire's counterpart does not also have to be a Vampire. However once a Vampire finds his/her companion, s/he won't rest until they Turn their companion. Delaying too long would leave their human counterpart vulnerable to attack," I read out. There was more, but that was the gist of it.

"Wait, wait," Red said, massaging his temple. "Let me take that in."

While Red was letting my words sink in, Conway scoffed. "The Vampires must be pretty stupid to put that on a site anyone could hack into to."

I rested my chin in my upturned palm as I leaned my elbow on the computer desk. "I didn't find this in the Vampire's files. This was in the Slayers Top Secret Files. Not even Grace has access to these, only the Slayer High Command. I'm betting the SHC know all about the Vampires but they probably kept it secret for a reason," I said slowly, wishing I wasn't so tired and that my brain would work faster.

"Oh," Conway blinked.

"Hey, Leaf?" I looked up at Red. He stood up and offered his hand out to me. "I reckon trying to stop the Vampires by ourselves is suicide," he began. "But I'm willing to try," he smiled.

I smiled back, accepting his hand. "Great. Let's go and tell the others. Hey, um, Conway and Trevor? Would you mind logging out of the system and wiping this from the search history etc.? I wouldn't want Grace or anyone else to find this," I said.

"Sure, no problem. See you later Leaf," Trevor nodded as he and Conway bent over the computer desk. I grinned in thanks and let Red lead me out of the room.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So how was it? Did you like it? Hate it? Notice any mistakes? Did I upload the right chapter this time? (I'm hoping the answer to that question is a no XD)

Thanks so much for reading, and ALL reviews are welcome and greatly appreciated, especially in this terrible time called exam season :)

Thanks,

~ Jay


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